


I Hear You're the One with the Bleeding Heart

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: It's gonna be a bumpy ride, Multi, hang in there, slow burn Malvie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-02-22 21:49:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13175895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: The perfect face, the perfect hair, the perfect princess. Perfection. Evie needed it to win herself a prince, to get the castle, and the crown, and the mother-in-law wing. She had long since reached that perfection, showing it off every single day with her beauty and style, her pouting lips and strutting heels. Just one problem—no princes around for her to win on that desolate rock she's forced to call home. But one day, someone new arrives to The Isle of the Lost, someone completely unexpected and completely unprecented, with the dangerous power to make all of Evie's lifelong dreams come true.





	1. Blue and Bittersweet

There was a curse upon the Isle of the Lost, and it was perhaps the most ironic of all. For The Isle's curse was in fact  _no_ curse—no magic, to be exact. Its denizens had grudgingly resigned themselves to this harsh truth, but the Evil Queen? The Evil Queen knew something the rest of them didn't. There was one small shred of magic that still existed within their prison, and she had long since seized her chance to pass that magic on to her daughter.  
  
The magic of full, red lips, of batting smokey eyes. A well-timed flip of luxurious blue hair mixed with the enchantment of a practiced strut. The spell cast by a low, raspy voice and a devilish little laugh. This was the magic that was taught to Evie all her life. Princes were drawn to such magic, her mother had always said, and as a princess, nothing but a prince would do for Evie.   
  
Her friends called her mother's efforts fruitless, Mal, Jay, and Carlos did. They admonished and teased Evie for her constant preening, for the way her strutting through the streets of The Isle was always punctuated by stops at glass windows and rain barrels to check her reflection and check that not a hair was out of place. The VKs called her mother's efforts fruitless, for what good would it do Evie? This was the Isle of the Lost, a floating jail for villains, and there were no princes here. The closest thing they had to it was a temperamental lion who liked to slink through the shadows sucking his thumb and counting his coins.  
  
The thought had of course crossed Evie's mind from time to time, the thought that all her amorous wiles and her mom's insistence on perfection would do her absolutely no good on The Isle, but what else was there for her? Her beauty was all she had to her name, and prince or no prince, if Evie didn't cultivate it, then she had nothing. She  _was_ nothing. Even in the absence of royalty a pretty face still served her well on The Isle, that was a tried and true fact, and Evie wasn't about to give up her magic for anything.  
  
Mal, as her best friend, respected at least that much, but still always found herself spurning and chiding Evie's ridiculous obsession with princes and her refusal to stop wanting what she simply couldn't have. The royalty was back on the mainland, beyond the confines of a magic barrier; back in Auradon, where the Isle denizens would never be able to set foot even if they wanted to. Mal would tolerate it as best she could, but some days the starry brown eyes and swooning sighs of Evie's daydreaming would grate on her nerves a little more harshly than usual, inevitably leading to Mal's fierce lashing out of "All Snow White ever did was obsess over a prince, and look where it got her!!"  
  
She and Evie would be at odds for a bit after those moments, sometimes for days or even weeks, but eventually the status quo won out, and tensions between the two would drop. Such was the tricky nature of camaraderie between villains.  
  
Once, Mal caught the boys really getting in on the act, calling the overturned fruit baskets on their heads crowns and mockingly bowing to Evie, attempting to kiss her hand in their "princely" ways. They laughed wildly, amusing themselves with Evie's almighty pout and the jerking of her hand out of their grasps—until the grasp of Mal's fingers around their ears cut the merriment short.  
  
That was the day Jay and Carlos learned only Mal was allowed to truly torment Evie. Such was the tricky nature of camaraderie between villains.  
  
It was a long-running gag, Evie's doomed quest for a prince, but she learned to just let them laugh and jeer, point their fingers and snicker. She wouldn't abandon her quest.  
  
Her mother wouldn't stand for it.  
  
Mal and the boys could never let it go, it brought them too much fun. Fun was a rare commodity on their island, and whenever they found it in their clutches, that was it. Evie did indeed grow to be unperturbed by the jokes and Mal's lectures, and one day, it finally paid off.  
  
One day, Mal and the boys found the joke on them.  
  
Sitting at her cracked vanity in the morning, penning blue eyeliner across her lid, a commotion seemed to rise from the streets below her window, the sort of sounds that always followed the likes of Mal spraypainting marketplace stalls or a crowd realizing all at once that their pockets hadn't turned up empty until Jay had casually passed through. Yet Evie couldn't busy herself with it for long, for a new commotion stirred at the head of her very own bedroom as the Evil Queen threw wide the door and swooped right in.  
  
"Perfect, you're already dressed," the Evil Queen beamed. "Come, let me have a look at you."  
  
She spoke the words without a snap, but still Evie obediently leapt to her feet like a whip had been cracked. She smiled in anxious wait as her mother wedged a finger under her chin and turned her head side to side. Evie was sure her face was flawless, from eyeshadow to blush to dark red lipstick. Absolutely flawless.  
  
"It'll have to do," the Evil Queen said with the faintest of scowls.  
  
Evie's smile faltered.  
  
"...What's going on outside?" she asked.  
  
"Wonderful news," her mom brought her hands together in a clap. "The Auradon guard is on the way here as we speak."  
  
"...Why is the Auradon guard—?"  
  
The Evil Queen held up a single finger for silence, and Evie instantly shut up.  
  
"Someone _new_ is arriving to The Isle."  
  
Evie blinked a couple times, dumbfounded.   
  
"Someone new?" she repeated. "A new villain? How is that possible? Belle and Beast—"  
  
"Belle and Beast aren't the brightest of the bunch, thinking villains could be rounded up in one go and that would be the end of it. Villains aren't just born, Evie dear, they're made. Locking us all up here didn't mean there wouldn't eventually be more."  
  
It was a concept that never occurred to Evie, the familiar Isle faces she'd known all her life changing and growing with the arrival of new villains. She shook herself out of her thoughts with a literal shake of her head, eyes focusing back on her mom.  
  
"Wait, why is it perfect that I'm already dressed?" she wondered. "Where am I going?"  
  
"Down to the bridge to greet our newcomer, of course."  
  
"Me? Why me?"  
  
Her mother grabbed her wrist without an explanation and tugged her along, out of her bedroom and down the winding halls of their castle. She still didn't get an explanation even after she was shunted out the front doors and urged to head straight for the crumbling bridge leading to nowhere, what the island-goers saw as a mockery of their imprisonment and banishment from Auradon. Evie heard it whispered and grumbled in the crowd as she strutted down the road, the talk of a new arrival. Mainly gossip and speculation, what little Evie let herself hear didn't do her much good. As necessary as it was on The Isle, eavesdropping wasn't an attractive quality. So Evie simply walked on.  
  
She made it to the bridge just in time to see an amazing sight, a sight that stopped her right in her tracks—magic.  
  
_Real_ magic. A sparkling golden road stretching all the way from Auradon, across the reaches of the sea, joining their collapsed bridge to deliver a lone armored van to the edge of downtown. Drawing to a stop and parking, the car brought in a crowd, cautiously coming in for a look yet keeping their distance from Evie. She glanced at them over her shoulder, huddled a couple yards behind, and turned her attention back to the car with a flip of her hair. Looked like she was the welcome wagon. The van's back doors swung open, followed by the sounds of rustling and movement from inside.  
  
"Get your hands off of me, I can walk on my own!" someone snapped.  
  
He was tossed out of the van rather unceremoniously, stumbling slightly as he landed on the pavement.  
  
That was all Evie was going to get of the Auradon side, for she didn't even catch sight of the guards before the back doors were slamming shut, the van was driving off, and the golden road was disappearing in a shower of sparkles that went on to drown beneath the waves below.   
  
He shook himself out with a little growl, straightened his shoulders, and turned. Evie was the very first thing he saw on that miserable Isle.  
  
Just the way her mother had planned it.  
  
He didn't look like your typical villain as he drew near, Evie noticed. He carried himself much like she did, head held high and proud, an aura of confidence radiating from his stature. But then again, Evie wasn't your typical villain either.  
  
"...Hi. Welcome to the Isle of the Lost," she said with a smile, face to face with him now.  
  
"...Something tells me 'welcome' isn't the right word," the stranger dryly chuckled, taking a look at the decrepit slums around him.  
  
"No, I guess not. I'm Evie."  
  
She didn't know what else there was to say. Playing nice was not an Isle pastime, and her mind was still reeling trying to figure out why her mother had so suddenly insisted on it. At least, until the stranger bowed to her, charmingly. Almost...regally.  
  
"Prince Hans, of the Southern Isles," he introduced himself, keeping his head low before straightening back up.  
  
Oh.  _Oh._  
  
Evie's ears rang. Did she really just hear that? Did she hear that  _right?_  
  
"You're a prince?" she asked with wide eyes. "And you're here on The Isle??"  
  
"I'm not the nicest prince," Hans grumbled.  
  
It was a testament to the Evil Queen's discipline how quickly Evie overcame her shock and melded into batting her eyes, slinking closer, and laughing her devilish laugh.  
  
"That's alright, I'm not the nicest princess," she said, her voice low and enticing. "My mom's the Evil Queen."  
  
Hans raised an eyebrow.  
  
"... _The_ Evil Queen, who tried to kill Snow White? The one that started it all? That is...interesting."  
  
His voice became low and enticing as well.   
  
Evie turned halfway, gesturing a hand to the vast expanses of The Isle behind them.  
  
"How about the not-so-grand tour?" she suggested, still batting those eyes.  
  
"Might as well, if it's to be my new home," the prince grimaced, having another disdainful look at his surroundings.  
  
"I'd say it'll grow on you, but I was born here and it still hasn't really grown on me," Evie giggled.  
  
Hans smiled, the smile touching his soft green eyes, and offered his arm to Evie.  
  
"Some sights are already better than others," he smoothly said.  
  
Evie's quiet laugh was uttered under her breath, soft like a feather, and taking Hans' arm, she led the way.

 

* * *

 

 

"...What?" Mal frowned, lowering her feet from the splintered coffee table and sitting up straight.  
  
Carlos and Jay, busying themselves in their own corners of the VKs' hideout, perked up in attention at Evie's words as well.  
  
"A real live prince, here on The Isle!!" Evie said again, excitement radiating from her smile.  
  
"Any prince who comes here to The Isle won't be a real live one for long," Jay snickered.  
  
The dirty look Evie shot him just then was intimidating only in its newness, in the fact that Evie's pretty face had never glowered so harshly before.  
  
"He's a villain, just like the rest of us," she sternly informed Jay.  
  
Mal sat forward on the sofa, frown deepening.  
  
"A prince who's a villain?" she said skeptically.  
  
"Yes, so? I'm a princess who's a villain," Evie pointed out. "And finally,  _finally_ , the prince I've been waiting all my life for has come!"  
  
"So what's he in for?" Carlos questioned, drawing closer.  
  
"I didn't ask," Evie narrowed her eyes at Carlos like he should be ashamed of even wondering. "But he's  _so_ wonderful."  
  
"You just met the guy," Mal rolled her eyes. "You've spent like, what, five minutes with him?"  
  
"I'll have you know I was showing him around for an hour, Mal."  
  
"Ah, a  _whole_  hour. My mistake. Forgive me, your highness," Mal sarcastically exaggerated.  
  
Evie's out of place glower returned.  
  
"You all just can't stand that all your teasing has backfired, can you?" she snapped.  
  
"E, chill," Mal quickly said. "You're just back at it again with your ridiculous obsession. You don't even know this guy yet and already you're fawning all over him."  
  
"He's a prince, that's all I need to know."  
  
"Fine. So bring him around," Mal stood up, the single gesture asserting her dominance over the group. "Let us see him."  
  
"Fine. I will," Evie tried to assert her own dominance in the face of Mal, but fell short, her "fine" coming out weaker and lacking.  
  
She found Hans right where she'd left him, at a dilapidated Isle townhouse whose address was the only thing the Auradon guard had supplied him with before dropping him off at the bridge. The front door was left open, and Evie poked her head inside.  
  
"Knock knock," she called out.  
  
She heard Hans' boots coming from what was supposed to pass as the living room, and then there he was.  
  
"Evie? Hello again," he greeted her, inviting her further inside.  
  
"...Sort of a fixer-upper, isn't it?" Evie noted, having a look around.   
  
"This whole island looks like a fixer-upper."  
  
Evie couldn't disagree.  
  
"Is this really all they left you with?" she wondered. "I mean, when my mom was sent here she brought an entire castle over with her."  
  
"Yes, well, I never really got to the point of owning my own castle," Hans said bitterly.  
  
That little tidbit tripped Evie up for a second.  
  
"You don't have a castle?" her heart started to sink.  
  
"Well, not one that isn't overrun with twelve brothers, at least."  
  
"Twelve brothers..." Evie was astounded.  
  
"Exactly," Hans read her expression.  
  
"I don't have any siblings. What's it like?"  
  
"You really don't want to know."  
  
Evie frowned, sensing the subject of Hans' brothers was a touchy one and deciding to change it.  
  
"You don't have to stay here and reminisce. Why don't you come meet my friends? I'd like to introduce you. The four of us, we run this island, we're the "it" crowd."  
  
"Leave it to a princess to keep the best company," Hans' pleasant, easy smile returned.  
  
Evie continued to play the charming role of the welcome wagon as they left Hans' new living arrangements and started for the hideout across town. She'd point out a shop here, a store there, glancing up every so often at the stony set of Hans' face. He was lost, Evie could tell. Vastly out of his element. All alone in a brand new world without anything to his name.  
  
How Evie's heart seemed to break trying to imagine what it must be like, coming from a life of grandeur and opulence on the mainland and being tossed into such a squalid prison. He was trying rather successfully to keep up his princely appearances as Evie showed him around, but she could see the discomfort hidden behind his dreamy eyes. Hans was terribly overwhelmed by his whole situation, perhaps even a little... _frightened_ of what was to become of him here. How Evie wanted nothing more than to keep him close, to be a friendly face, a comfort to the prince.  
  
"We're here," she said, drawing to a stop and lightly touching a hand to his arm.  
  
Hans watched quietly as Evie snatched up a rock and deftly threw it at the sign above, at the deliciously ironic "Danger: Flying Rocks". Carlos' mechanism moved flawlessly like it always did, a chain reaction of the sign's movement working a pulley, lifting a chain-link gate, and granting them access to the rusty metal stairwell.  
  
"Come on," she gently nudged him. "All the way up."  
  
Hans had been exactly where she left him when she'd strutted across town to go fetch him, and now that she'd returned, she found the VKs exactly where she'd left  _them_. Mal on the couch with her feet propped up, eyes boredly trained on their ancient TV set and one of the staticky few channels they got on The Isle. Jay on his side of the loft, taking inventory of a medley of trinkets and odds and ends he'd scattered out across the table. Carlos parked next to Mal, curiously taking a screwdriver to the TV remote in his hands and planning to do who-knows-what to it.  
  
Eyes were always on her whenever she entered a room, and those of her friends were no exception, yet still she gently cleared her throat at her arrival like she had to command their attention anyway.  
  
"Everyone, this is Prince Hans," she proudly announced. "Hans, these are the villain kids—Carlos, son of Cruella, Jay, son of Jafar, and Mal, daughter of Maleficent."  
  
Green met green as Hans' interested eyes gravitated right to Mal's piercing ones, somehow knowing before the parental name drop that she was the powerhouse of the group. Piercing green eyes narrowed almost dangerously as she rose to her feet.  
  
" _This_ is him?" she demanded.  
  
Evie didn't take well to her tone, but stood firm.  
  
"Yes, the Prince of the Southern Isles."  
  
She unknowingly made the split-second decision to call him "the" prince, and not "a" prince.  
  
"The Southern Isles," Carlos mused. "That's not in Auradon."  
  
"No, it's near the kingdom of Arendelle," Hans told him.  
  
"That's not in Auradon either, is it?" Jay wondered.  
  
Hans shook his head.  
  
"Arendelle and its neighboring kingdoms were too far away to be made part of your United States of Auradon."  
  
"How old are you?" Mal bluntly asked, derailing the conversation entirely.  
  
"Mal," Evie's own tone turned stern, scolding. She spoke her best friend's name in a way she never dared to speak it before.  
  
"What? It's just a question."  
  
"Twenty-one," Hans answered, unperturbed.  
  
Jay smirked across the room at Carlos, who looked blankly back at him in return.  
  
"What brings you to The Isle?" Mal went on with another question.  
  
Hans responded with a sly smile.  
  
"Evil," he said simply.  
  
"Then you'll fit right in, buddy," Jay told him, going back to eyeing his stolen goods.  
  
"You know, Hans, I'm really good at sewing," Evie began. "Fashion and style are sort of my things...why don't I make you some Isle outfits? It'll help you feel more at home here."  
  
"Not that we'd really call this place home, but you get her drift," Mal interrupted.  
  
"That's nice of you, Evie. Thanks," Hans nodded.  
  
"Great!" Evie beamed, happy to make herself useful. "How about I meet up with you tomorrow to show you some designs and get your measurements?"  
  
"You know where to find me," the prince laughed.  
  
"That she does," Jay teased under his breath.  
  
Hans looked on as Carlos and Jay lost their interest in him.  
  
"Well, I don't want to overstay my welcome," he bowed his head, a mannerism more on his prince side than his villain side, and turned to Evie. "I'll see myself out, and see you tomorrow."  
  
"I'll see you," Evie flashed him a flirty smile, smokey eyes on him the entire time as he backtracked through the hideout and left the way Evie had showed him in.  
  
No one said anything in the wake of Hans' departure, it was as if he hadn't even been there at all. Jay shined some of his stolen treasures with the bottom of his shirt, Carlos got up to find something else to tinker around in the remote with, and Mal kicked the TV set in an attempt to clear some static. The only reaction was Evie's dreamy, swooning sigh, which caught no one's attention but Mal's. The leader of the VKs watched as Evie sidled over and daintily dropped beside her on the sofa. Mal could practically see the hearts dancing above Evie's head. Sickening.  
  
"Snap out of it, E. Villains aren't supposed to fawn over silly little crushes."  
  
"Mal, this is more than just a crush. This is a  _prince,_  come here to The Isle. The one place I never thought I'd find one," Evie beamed.  
  
Mal just shook her head, reaching for the soda can sitting beside her on an end table.  
  
"This is exactly what my mother's always talked about, what I was always meant for," Evie went on. "To meet a prince, fall in love, be married and whisked off to a magnificent castle, and live out my days as a true princess."  
  
Mal almost choked on her drink.  
  
"Married??" she sputtered. "To Hans??"  
  
"Well not right away, of course. True love takes time."  
  
The chronology of the matter wasn't what Mal took fault with.  
  
"E, have you lost your mind? He is way too old for you!" she snapped.  
  
"What? M, hardly. He's only five years older than me."  
  
"'Only five years'," Jay chuckled mockingly from across the room.  
  
"It isn't funny," Mal in turn snapped at him. "Evie, he's too old, and I don't trust him."  
  
"You haven't even given yourself a chance to trust him yet," Evie argued. "He must be bad to have gotten himself sent here, and bad is good in our books, isn't it?"   
  
"He reminds me of a weasel," Mal stubbornly said.  
  
"He's been torn away from everything he's ever known and dropped all alone onto this horrible island. He needs a friend, and a guiding hand, not people calling him a weasel."  
  
"And besides, even if you married him, you're both still stuck here castle-less," Jay again piped up. "It's not like they're letting him  _or_ you into Auradon anytime soon."  
  
Mal was about to throttle him for continuing to feed Evie's delusions.  
  
"She's not marrying him," she literally put her foot down.  
  
Evie sternly frowned at her.  
  
"By the time I'm old enough to be married five years won't make any difference at all."  
  
"You're not marrying him."  
  
"Mal, don't you get it?" Evie stood up. "Your entire life revolves around living up to your mother's expectations, you'd do anything to be the villain you need to be. How is this any different? Why is  _my_ life and  _my_ trying to be the villain I need to be always one big joke??"  
  
Mal's eyes widened.  
  
"Evie..."  
  
"Don't deny it, Mal. It was always a joke that I would find a prince, a joke that I tried so hard to be the perfect princess here where princesses were never meant to exist. When I met Hans down at the bridge, when I found out who and what he was, I knew it would change things...but one thing is still the same. I'm still nothing but a joke to you guys."  
  
Unbeknownst to Mal and Evie's rising conflict, the boys were currently doing their best to blend right into the walls.  
  
"Evie!" Mal jumped to her feet. "You are not a joke to us!"  
  
Evie's eyes started to sting, and a sick heat burned at the back of her throat.  
  
"I'll see you guys later," she said stiffly, turning on her heels.  
  
For whatever reason, Mal's instinct was to go after her, but her feet refused to move.  
  
Evie wiped at her eyes as her steps clanged all the way down the metal stairway, and then she held her head high as the clangs turned to clacks on the pavement. Steady, rhythmic steps. One after the other. Confident steps. The steps of a princess, regal and proud. Nevermind what Mal said. Nevermind how Jay laughed. Nevermind the things Carlos thought in that reserved but ever-whirring mind of his.   
  
She and her mother deserved more than life on the Isle of the Lost. They deserved thrones, throne  _rooms_ , jewels,  _jewelry,_ wardrobe upon wardrobe of dresses and gowns, crowns fitted neatly atop their heads, walls and walls lined with mirrors in which to gaze upon their beauty and know for sure and forever that they were truly the fairest of them all. Such a life could never await villains on The Isle, but such a life awaited princes and princesses in Auradon.  
  
Evie and her mother knew all too well of narrowed walls and locked doors, of opportunities and futures snatched away by the spindly fingers of fate (and occasionally of horned mistresses of evil). Yes, Evie and her mother knew all too well of locked doors and all the chances stored behind them, but where one knows of locked doors, one also knows of keys. Evie's magic had always been the key, the magic of full, red lips, of batting smokey eyes. A well-timed flip of luxurious blue hair mixed with the enchantment of a practiced strut. Her magic had served her perfectly, already starting to cast a spell over Prince Hans. Evie could see it in his eyes.  
  
And Evie could see him in  _her_ eyes, just up the road, not having gotten very far.  
  
"Hans!" she called out.  
  
He seemed to be smiling even before he turned and caught sight of Evie's face, as if he already knew her voice. He stopped, waiting patiently as Evie strolled along to catch up to him.  
  
"Well hello, princess," he bowed. "It's a small world after all."  
  
"Isn't it?" she played along, a single laugh tinkling like bells. "Hey, are you hungry?"  
  
She saw Hans cringe.  
  
"The guards told me horror stories about the food here on the way over," he said.  
  
"I hate to say they weren't so much stories as they were truths. It's the farthest thing from gourmet, but...there are  _some_ things here that make our food a little sweeter. The company you dine with, for example."  
  
Smokey eyes batting in suggestion. A spell being cast.  
  
"I'd be honored to dine with you, Princess Evie."  
  
Full, red lips curling in a coy smile.  
  
"I know just the place, Prince Hans."  
  
A locked door beginning to swing open.  
  
The Isle's curse beginning to be broken.


	2. Little Dark Dynamite

It was one of those occasions where Mal and Evie were at odds with each other for days at a time; playing the silent treatment, Mal blithely avoiding glances, Evie banishing herself from the hideout, the two of them walking right past each other down the corridors of Dragon Hall as if they were complete strangers. But as their clashes never failed to do, they ebbed away on their own, culminating in Mal finding Evie at her locker at the end of the school day, the shiniest locker in the entire dingy hallway.  
  
"You know you're the only one I say this to, which means you also know how much I hate to say it in the first place, but I'm sorry," Mal told her.  
  
Evie paused with her hand on her locker door, then let out what sounded to both of them like a sigh of relief, one she very may well have been holding in the last four days.  
  
"If you want the boys to say they're sorry too I'll drag them in by their ears, but I can't help feeling that it's always me you end up looking for an apology from," Mal went on. "So there you go. One apology, paid in full. Now how about you come by the hideout in an hour or so and we'll have Carlos do our homework while we go out and tag his mom's car?"  
  
Evie shook her head, closing her locker door.  
  
"I can't come by today, Mal. Mom wants me home this afternoon."  
  
Mal frowned.  
  
"What for?"  
  
Evie ducked her head down, avoiding her best friend's eyes as they started to walk.  
  
"...Mal, we just ended one argument, let's not start another," she quietly pleaded.  
  
Mal needed no further explanation.  
  
"...This is about that stupid prince again, isn't it?"  
  
"He isn't stupid," Evie said right away, almost automatically.  
  
"Okay, shifty prince."  
  
"He's charming, and gentlemanly, and really very kind."  
  
"Can't be too kind if he got himself shipped here. And how would you know? Have you seriously been hanging around him?"  
  
"Yes, I seriously have," Evie haughtily held her head up.  
  
"You're really going all-out on this crush thing, aren't you?"  
  
Evie ignored her.  
  
"My mom got Hans a job at The Horned King's antique shop; dusting shelves, shining swords, you know."  
  
"The Evil Queen did something helpful for someone other than herself? Wow," Mal said sarcastically. "And let me guess, the big grown prince can't find his way without you there to walk him along? You do realize your mom has you babysitting this guy, right?"  
  
"M, I know getting along with people isn't in your blood, but do you have to be so...I don't know, _you?"_ Evie asked.  
  
Mal came to a stop, touching Evie's arm to turn her towards her.  
  
"E, you're breaking the cardinal rule of The Isle, the one that I just so happen to be following," she explained.  
  
"...Trust no one," Evie slowly nodded.  
  
"At the very least, not right away. Out of everyone on this island there are only three people I trust, and that didn't happen overnight. You're throwing Isle 101 out the window for a flashy smile and a pair of sideburns."  
  
"...You're worried about me?" Evie wondered.  
  
Mal handily dodged the question.  
  
"I'm looking out for you, because you're part of my crew and that's my job," she said.  
  
Evie managed a small smile.  
  
"Because I'm part of your crew, or because I'm your best friend?"  
  
"...Okay, so being my best friend has its protection advantages," Mal shrugged.  
  
Evie started walking once more, and Mal followed.  
  
"He needs help adjusting, M. The Auradon crowd dropped him off here with nothing but a place to live, and I'm honestly surprised they did even _that_ much," Evie explained.  
  
"And after he's done 'adjusting'? Am I really supposed to believe you're just playing the welcoming committee and that when all is said and done you aren't going to chase after your fairytale dreams of life with a prince? Evie, stop dancing around it, do you like Hans or not?"  
  
"Of course I like him!"  
  
"And are you going to do anything about it?"  
  
This time it was Evie who stopped, pressing herself against the wall and nervously biting her lip as she thought of what to say.  
  
"...Do you not want me to date him?"  
  
Mal threw her hands up in exasperation like they'd been at this for an eternity.  
  
 _"No,_ I don't want you to date him!!" she shouted. "The guy's a stranger, in his _twenties_ , with a past that you have no clue about!"  
  
"...So I'll spend some time getting to know him."  
  
"That is not the point, Evie!"  
  
Evie slowly shook her head, and her hands shook right along with her as she thought about having to face off with Mal like this.  
  
"...Mal, do you want to spend the rest of your life on this island?" her voice was so, so small.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Mal scowled.  
  
"Because I don't. Call me a horrible excuse for a VK, because I guess that's what I am, but I see Auradon out there across the water and _that's_ where I want to be," Evie desperately said, feeling tears threatening to well up at any second. "And Auradon has no place for villains, but it does have a place for royalty. Hans is not the best bet, I realize that, but he's the only bet I have. My mother will think of a plan for us, and I'll follow it. He's my only chance, M...so I'm taking it."  
  
Mal let out an almighty sigh, stifling a growl and pressing her fingers to her temples.  
  
"Evie, honestly, think about this," she stiffly said.  
  
Evie nodded, surely and confidently.  
  
"I have, Mal. All my life."  
  
Mal didn't follow as Evie left her behind and turned a corner.  
  
"...No, Evie," she said to herself rather gruffly. "Your mom has."

* * *

  
"Wow, what's with the glum face?" Hans asked, opening the front door to find Evie there on the landing.  
  
Forgetting herself, forgetting that she was supposed to be at the top of her game around the prince, Evie made herself instantly perk right up with a smile on her face and a sparkle in her eyes.  
  
"Oh, long day at school, that's all," she said brightly. "Are you ready to go?"  
  
"Yeah, yes, just let me grab my jacket."  
  
Hans leaned out of sight for a moment, returning with said jacket and stepping outside to close the door behind him. Evie had taken the gray coat of his naval uniform and given it an Isle touch, emblazoning it with studs, spikes, tears, and shreds. Hans shrugged into it as they walked, and Evie admired her handiwork. He saw her eyeing and caught her attention with a smile.  
  
"Thank you again for the style overhaul," he said. "I get a lot less dirty glances now that I don't look like I came straight from Auradon."  
  
"You're very welcome."  
  
"You are _really_ talented. It feels like that talent is wasted here on The Isle."  
  
"I feel like it is too," Evie sighed. "Auradon really is the land of opportunity, there's nothing here on The Isle. For any of us."  
  
Hans looked up at the cloudy sky in thought.  
  
"This many evil masterminds in one place and no one can come up with a way to escape?"  
  
Evie's ears perked up.   
  
"Well, there's no magic here on The Isle, Hans. Most of us are powerless."  
  
Hans shook his head.  
  
"You don't need magic when you have brains."  
  
And there was something that was in stark contrast to everything Evie had ever been taught. They both let the thought hang in the air as they fell into silence for the rest of the trip.  
  
"Here's the shop," Evie broke the silence. "I'd go in with you, but...The Horned King really creeps me out."  
  
Evie laughed cutely and shied away from the front door. She saw a twinkle come to life in Hans' eyes.  
  
"Thank you for showing me the way," the prince said, bowing his head. "Thank you for everything, really. I would've had a much harder time these last few days if it hadn't have been for you."  
  
"It's my pleasure, Prince Hans," Evie returned the bow with a kittenish curtsy, letting a flirty smile curve her red lips. "Good luck."  
  
"Thanks," Hans grinned at her. "So when do I get to see you again?"  
  
Evie felt a warm flush bloom underneath the skin of her cheeks.  
  
"Anytime you want."  
  
"We should get to know each other more. Seeing as we're already such fast friends."  
  
"Just call on me at my castle," Evie said cheerily.  
  
"I will, princess."  
  
With another bow and a wave, Hans bid his goodbye and disappeared inside the shop.  
  
Walking the prince to work didn't take as long as Evie figured, but she still didn't fancy herself taking Mal up on her suggestion to hang with them at the hideout. So back home it was.

* * *

  
The VKs were lounging about the alleyway beneath the hideout. Mal sat back against the brick wall, repeatedly hurling a tattered tennis ball at the "Danger: Flying Rocks" sign and watching the gate grate up and down with each toss.  
  
"Aren't you getting a little bent out of shape over this?" Jay asked with a raised eyebrow. "So Evie has a stupid crush, it's not like anything is going to happen."  
  
"It will if Evie and her mother have anything to say about it, and believe me, they do," Mal answered. "We spent so much time making fun of the whole prince thing that we never realized just _how_ diehard Evie is about it. If I have to hear 'but he's a prince' one more time I swear I'm going to break all her mirrors."  
  
Carlos looked up from Mal's homework.  
  
"I don't know how I feel about letting Hans get so close to Evie, even _if_ nothing happens," he fretfully said.  
  
"You're right," Mal agreed. "If he gets close to Evie, he gets close to us, and I don't want him close to us."  
  
"So we just find out more about him before Evie does it for us," Jay said simply.  
  
"Evie won't look for the important stuff in the first place, all she'll look for is the pointless crap like his shoe size or his best friend's name," Mal rolled her eyes.  
  
"It's probably John," Carlos mused.  
  
"Where would we even start, though?" Jay asked. "Hans isn't from Auradon, it's not like we can just look him up in a book."  
  
"Or with a shoddy internet connection," Carlos added.  
  
Mal waved away their unsureness.  
  
"We'll think of something."  
  
"Well, Evie's side I can understand, but do you really think Hans is going to fall for _her?"_ Carlos asked.  
  
Mal scowled at him.  
  
"Excuse me, have you _seen_ Evie? Who wouldn't fall for her?"  
  
She threw the tennis ball at the sign with a little more brute force than she intended the next go-around.  
  
"If only she would listen to me," Mal grumbled. "If she wasn't around Hans, we wouldn't even have a problem."  
  
Jay snickered.  
  
"Unless you're up for kidnapping and holding your own best friend hostage, getting her away from dream boy isn't going to happen."  
  
Carlos' eyes widened with a spark turning the gears in his head. Hanging out with Mal and Jay was really starting to get to him.  
  
"What if he wasn't so dreamy?" he suddenly said.  
  
Mal paused mid-throw, her arm reared back.  
  
"...That's a nasty glint you have in your eyes," she noted. "I like it. Continue."  
  
That he did.  
  
"Guys, we're the Rotten Four—well, the Rotten Three right now. How hard could it be for the three meanest and sneakiest minds on The Isle to make a fool out of one lousy prince?"  
  
Mal raised an eyebrow, intrigued.  
  
"Carlos, that doesn't sound like you. I like that too."  
  
Carlos smiled shyly.  
  
"Just looking out for Evie. Isle 101, trust no one."  
  
Jay took the tennis ball out of Mal's hand and gave it a throw for himself.  
  
"Evie is not gonna be happy with us after this, you guys," he pointed out, slightly amused at the thought.  
  
"That's a risk I'm glad to take," Mal rose to her feet.  
  
She snatched the tennis ball back and opened the gate for good this time, ducking under and starting up the stairs.  
  
"Come on you two," she called out to Jay and Carlos. "We aren't enrolled in Evil Schemes and Nasty Plots for nothing."  
  
Jay eagerly rubbed his hands together.  
  
"Time to earn an 'A'."

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I despise Hans with every last microscopic fiber of my being. A figurine of Hans that came with a Frozen playset has been sitting in my freezer encased in ice for the past three years because I just love the cruel irony. The man can choke. This fic is in no way me shipping Hans with Evie, it's just me telling a story. The only thing I ship Hans with is centuries of cold hard torment.


End file.
